Category: Sustainable Development

environment, environmentalism, development, poverty, human rights, etc

We Still Care – Doomster Characteristics

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I made a mistake in my book Breaking Together, when I included a box on ‘doomster characteristics’. That was in Chapter 12, where I was explaining many people accept that societal collapse is occurring, or coming soon, and are integrating that into how they live positively. One of the curators of the postdoom collective, Karen Perry, pointed out to me that my box was describing benefits of being a ‘doomster’ rather than their common characteristics. That got me thinking. I realized that there are some ways of being that many collapse-accepting people exhibit, which I think are important to recognize and cherish at this time. So, I wrote it up.

Why does that matter? Might it be more intellectual blather from a guy who can’t stop writing? Well, I will come back to that 😉 But I think this discussion matters because of the importance of perceived identities in public discussion. Those professionals who oppose us waking up to our predicament have been misrepresenting our motivations and characteristics for years in ways that turn people away from exploring more. Therefore, it is useful to be clearer about what our motivations are and explain what we see as some common characteristics. As a conversation starter, I will list five of them below.

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Should the UN just sod off?

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If we conclude that current difficulties are aspects of an unfolding collapse of societies around the world, what might we want to see from officials in the United Nations system?

That was a question posed to me recently by an initiative which recognizes something of the scale of the challenges faced and wants to communicate that to professionals involved in international affairs. They include not only international civil servants, but also governmental officials in foreign relations, international development and environmental issues.

Having worked in the UN system in various research roles, as well as with international NGOs, I recognize the conclusion that because we have global problems, we need globally coordinated action. Since the 1990s, I wrote a lot of published papers with that in mind, including some reports for the United Nations. But years later, I now see the hope people have in the UN system in contrast to the reality of its ineffectiveness and the growing suspicion that parts of it, such as the WHO, have been hijacked by a global managerial elite (who have bad ideas on most things). I have come to see that although many international civil servants do important work on the ground in some countries, many of them in the headquarters are involved in a deadly charade, where their status, income, and emotional stability lead them to lie to themselves and to the public about our planetary predicament, its causes and what to do about it. This is exemplified by their continued lie that ‘sustainable development’ is possible, despite years of data now proving the critiques from decades ago that it was capitalist-friendly ideological tosh. For one year I discussed and corresponded with various professionals in the field of sustainable development about why they continue the charade and heard what I described as their ‘deadly sins of denial’ in an article for Brave New Europe.

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No More Warnings Needed – an intransigent managerial class must be sidestepped

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Six hundred and seventy-four scholars from 53 countries, believe that “Only if policymakers begin to discuss this threat of societal collapse might communities and nations begin to prepare and so reduce its likelihood, speed, severity, harm to the most vulnerable, and to nature.” Each signatory, with doctoral degree, endorsed a public warning on societal disruption and collapse due to environmental change. They cover more than 20 major academic disciplines, including ecology and climatology, thereby conclusively demonstrating that preparations for societal collapse are being taken seriously by experts from around the world. The announcement of the final list of signatories concludes a 3-year initiative to promote awareness of the scientific basis for exploring how to reduce the damage from societal disruption, breakdown, and collapse, due to environmental change.

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Volunteer for our Regenerative Farm School, Remotely or in Bali

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It’s crazy how fast things grow in the tropics! When we founded Bekandze Farm in early 2023 we thought we could make a small but meaningful contribution to local food security and environmental care, by promoting and supporting the development of regenerative agriculture in our small patch of Bali. Sixteen months later the infrastructure is in, the garden is thriving, and the training is in full swing. But it hasn’t just been the plants that have been growing – our vision for the project has been growing too!

When we started Bekandze Farm – Regenerative Training Center we knew there was a need, but we had little idea how great that need was. Nor did we realise how vast is the opportunity to have a positive impact on how food is grown here, not just in Bali but throughout Indonesia. When we advertised for staff we attracted applicants from all over Indonesia hungry for an opportunity to develop their professional skills in regenerative agriculture. When we promoted our first free farmer training program we fielded enquiries from isolated farmers on far flung islands throughout Indonesia eager to take up the opportunity to connect learn from regenerative farmers in other parts of the country. And when we were approached by one of only two vocational high schools still teaching agriculture in Bali to help them stop the hemorrhaging of students out of agricultural studies into tourism, we knew for certain that we were on the cusp of something far greater and more impactful than we had envisaged.

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Watch the Blessing Ceremony at Bekandze Farm School

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I made (very) short film about the resilient and regenerative farm school that we recently launched here in Indonesia. The film focuses on the spiritual side to farming in Bali. The script of the voiceover follows below the video. The crowdfund is an essential part of the effort to become a catalyst in the local area. Please consider helping by learning more here.

For most of us, food is the tasty, or tasteless, substance on our plate. Something we need to quell an ache from hunger, or to provide us a moment of pleasure. Some of us buy fresh ingredients and cook. But even then, food is still about consuming. Therefore our food stories aren’t stories that involve a divine living world that is nurturing us within itself. 

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Jem’s summary of the past months, compiled Aug ’23

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Every 5 months or so I send out a summary of some of what I’ve been doing. Last weekend I sent the latest. It follows below. If you would like to get the next into your inbox in about 5 months, sign up here.

How is your experience of social media these days? There is quite a lot of stress-inducing news and modes of interaction online. In my case, being kicked off Twitter a month ago with no explanation has had an upside – and not just less screen time! It has given people the opportunity to express their views on dialogue and censorship. Friends and colleagues have sent me messages from all kinds of people who are saying my account should be restored, as well as senior-ranking academics who are actually celebrating me being censored. That’s quite revealing, isn’t it?

Psychologists know how our fear of feeling painful emotions can lead to us suppressing them by directing our anger at people whose existence reminds us of the reason for our painful emotions (they call that response ‘experiential avoidance’). If you disagree or deny that environmental disruption is already so severe and self-reinforcing that the breakdown of industrial consumer life is unavoidable, then you may feel more uncomfortable as reality hits home. The world is witnessing major disruptions, ocean temperatures are freakish, and the month of July was globally 1.5C degrees above pre-industrial temperatures, indicating that many self-reinforcing feedbacks are likely [see endnotes]. As I describe in my book’s chapter on the food system, a ‘multi-breadbasket failure’ with huge implications for grain markets has been calculated as near certain within 3 years of such a global temperature rise. In response, many senior ranking climatologists are doubling down on criticising those of us who warned 5 years ago, or more, that the current situation was the most likely scenario. In my book chapter on climate, there is a section where I revisit the claims in my Deep Adaptation paper of 2018, and show that 2023 observational data and climate science corroborates what I concluded back then (you can listen to the chapter for free, or get the whole audiobook).

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What I tweeted the day I disappeared (from Twitter)

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As it is coming up to a month since I was suspended from Twitter, without any explanation or any response to my immediate appeal, I went into my account and looked at what I tweeted just before I was suspended. It might have been a complaint, or a hack, or an algorithm… but someone didn’t want me tweeting. It had been an uneventful day online, with limited visibility and only a few reactions to my tweets on corporate irresponsibility, radical environmentalism, wise women, climate data, military profiteering and US government involvement in online censorship. What has surprised me since the suspension is that all my past tweets, since 2009, are no longer visible to anyone but me. All the immense wisdom and verifiable foresight, distilled into tweets like botanical gardens into essential oils.. all gone in an instantaneous digital bonfire! I jest. But some of what I shared was a bit nice. For instance, my very last tweet before suspension was on the short talk at my book launch, by the wonderful Satish Kumar. It read:

#SatishKumar has been a thought leader & heart leader in #environmentalism for decades. In this 5 minute share, he asks us to recognise the demise of industrial consumer societies & get on with creating the new. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDMSFT23YLw

I recommend you see his magical 5 minute talk. I have screen shot that tweet along with the other essential oils from that fateful day. If you feel like using them as pictures in your own tweets, that would be great. And I shall pray that you don’t get banned. In the meantime, I recommend subscribing to this blog, where I intend to keep sharing ideas on collapse readiness and response. As I am now leaving my employment, I would also welcome any financial support to encourage me to keep writing essays on such topics.

Update: as there is some amusing projection happening on twitter by folks who don’t know me (unlike how they know their inner repertoire of human characters) at the end of this blog I append a screenshot of my updated appeal, where I ask for any info on why this suspension occurred.

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Screen shot of my repeat appeal after a month…

Be my twitter?

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As I have been suspended from Twitter, I’d like to ask your help so that a Q&A on my book can be heard about. I was heartened that over 80 people joined me to discuss “Breaking Together: a freedom-loving response to collapse.” The event was hosted by Katie Carr of the Deep Adaptation Forum. The video follows below.

Why have I been booted from Twitter? Short answer: dunno. I received no warnings and no explanations. The text on my account says “After careful review, we determined your account broke the Twitter Rules.” Although I can be radical and forthright, at times responding to what I consider unfair criticism, I aim to be civil. Without further information, I’m curious as to the reason. Possibilities include some censorship code from old Twitter being triggered by a recent uptick in attention to my account. Or perhaps new Twitter doesn’t like my views on the unfortunate limits of renewables and electrification to transition humanity to sustainability. Another possibility is that the account was hacked in a sophisticated way so Twitter suspended it. I have submitted an appeal.

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Climate truth is a challenge to power – even that of senior experts

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After another week of frightening temperature anomalies around the world, I gave a talk to supporters of the MEER project, which is trialling various means of locally-led climate adaptation that involve reflecting the sun’s rays. The video and transcript follow below. References for all the factual statements made in my presentation can be found within Chapters 1 and 5 of Breaking Together, which is available in all formats and regions, including a free epub download. Free audios of those chapters are also available. In the talk I am critical of mainstream climatology, as well as BigTech censorship of science-based analyses of the climate crisis that lie outside their preferred view of a manageable problem with technological solutions. From the talk:

“The so-called ‘fact checking’ group ‘Climate Feedback’ didn’t even consider two top climatologists worthy of a reply when they complained to them about helping Facebook to shadow ban an article that concluded we are inevitably heading for over 2 degrees global warming that will likely set off feedback loops. My understanding is that Professor Will Steffen died without even the courtesy of a reply from Climate Feedback. Dr Wolfgang Knorr still awaits one. So, we need to reclaim environmentalism from elites and officers of the establishment. We must stop pretending we are on the same side and instead build alternatives from below.”

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Why we must ALL challenge authoritarian views in green politics

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Lancaster University academic, John Foster: “Forcefully transformative government… would have to be authoritarian…” “…if [Dr] Bendell wants to send GH [the Green House UK thinktank] an argued objection to what I said in my piece, GH will publish it along with a response from me. This is too important an issue not to encourage responsible debate on it.”

The following in an edited excerpt from the chapter “resisting the fake green globalists” in the book “Breaking Together: a freedom-loving response to collapse.” I am sharing it here in response to the Green House think tank supporting the views of the academic John Foster, which I quote further below. They invited a more substantive dialogue than possible on twitter. That seems appropriate as the thinktank claims to be “leading the development of green thinking in the UK” and has influential people on its board. The concepts I mention in this excerpt, and the evidence for them, are argued in detail elsewhere in the book, which is currently available as paperback/hardback/kindle, and will be available as a free epub download from The Schumacher Institute (TSI) from July 10th 2023 (as TSI always notes, these views are the author’s not the institute’s).

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